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Why the paint damage?
Did you start it with gas?
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Well... I make a serious fire, and they catch pretty quickly. So, I fired it up and had a little bit of smoke come out. Of course, I had just got home after a 13 hour day, 3 hours of sleep the night before and THEN decided to go for a run. Basically, I was pretty rummy-dummy and in a hurry. Not a good enough excuse, but still.
Anyways, a little smoke came out and I thought, "I'm not getting a good draft, I'll crack the front door and that will get it going"
Oh boy, it certainly did... Fed cool, fresh air right to the fire that now had nowhere to go but out and up. So, It blistered the paint pretty good and left some soot on the bricks. Once I saw that I instantly realized what happened. With the fire going so well it took longer than I would have liked to get through the flames and get that thing open.
The funny thing is that apparently, it's not the first time this has happened.... I started peeling the paint off and found scorched wood underneath. I guess some previous owner is as stupid as I am.
At least the upshot is that it helped convince the wife we need an honest to God wood stove insert instead of just a fireplace.